Tom Teasley's Expanded Global Viewpoints

When the DC-area based multi-instrumental wizard and all around percussion renaissance man Tom Teasley asked me to write liner notes for his latest global percussion release All The World’s A Stage it got me wondering about the evolution of one who self-identifies as a jazz percussionist, yet has so successfully broadened his base to include theater, teaching across far reaches of the planet, and seemingly all manner of expressions in the percussion universe. I mean, what kind of brain exercises is this cat doing that his horizons appear so limitless? Obviously some questions for Tom Teasley were in order. But first some video to introduce you to the world of Tom Teasley.

1) You’ve always self-identified as a jazz musician, yet your career is so broad-based. How have you gone about diversifying yourself as a percussionist?

I studied orchestral percussion at Peabody Conservatory when I was just out of high school.While there I began freelancing in orchestras and presenting school programs.My teacher, Charles Memphis, was of Greek decent and began exposing me to middle eastern rhythms which would have a profound impact on my music. Later I began setting the poetry of Langston Hughes and others to my original music for my project Word-Beat with my friend and colleague Charles Williams. That setting of poetry to music was a natural stepping stone to the theater work I do now. The most important aspect however is that I always keep an open mind on where my music can live and still maintain the integrity I want.

2) As far as your overall career is concerned, have these diversification efforts been based more on maintaining steady employment or on broadening yourself as a musician?

The employment has always been a result of my sincere desire to create something new, worthwhile and true to my esthetic. I never feel like any of these “alternative” projects are a compromise. Rather each one informs the other and result in a deeper well that I have to draw from for any future projects. I feel like if I had taken the mindset of diversifying only to create income the result would have had less integrity and therefore less value in every way.

3) Again, from the perspective of a jazz musician, how has your theater and education work affected your perspective on music-making?

The theater work has allowed me to tap into an emotional space that I had previously not explored.The best jazz musicians ” tell a story” with the development of their solos. Having the opportunity to set an existing story to my music allows me to explore that concept in a very real way that I can take with me to all other musical applications. I’m now setting silent movies and experimental film to my original music. I’ve discovered that guideposts in the film create a form to build on. This is a natural extension and perhaps more abstract than a twelve bar blues or 32 bar song form but I find many similarities. I also travel as a cultural envoy for the State Department collaborating with indigenous musicians. As I share American jazz concepts with them and I learn about their music and the culture from which it comes I grow as a person and reflect that in my music.

4) Your new record seems based mainly on your stage and cinematic experiences; is that a fair assessment?

The new record is based on my theater and cinematic experiences. It is also equally based on my extensive travel and collaborations,mainly in the middle east. I remember being invited to perform with Anachid, the premier Palestinian singing and drumming group in a refugee camp in The West Bank during Ramadan. I also remember presenting a drum clinic in the rural marshland in Iraq where the attendees came at risk to their safety to share music, rhythm and friendship.I remember being in war torn Baghdad collaborating with members of the Iraqi Symphony and virtuoso oud master Dahraid Fadhill. All of these memories manifest in the music I create regardless of the venue.

5) What’s next for Tom Teasley?

I’m looking forward to promoting the new record, “All the World’s A Stage”. Soon to be released is an educational video of my jazz approaches to a variety of ethnic drums including djembe, dumbek, riqq, cajon and many others. This is a culmination of my study of western classical music, my studies with master jazz drummer Joe, Morello and my global music adventures. Soon I open Mary Zimmernan’s “Metamorphoses” with Constellation Theatre Company. In the fall I’ll create original music and perform live with The Folger Theatre in “Conference of the Birds” based on the the Sufi poetry of Farid ud-Din Attar. I hope to soon to have a a video of some avant-garde films from the 1920s set to my original music. I’m looking at some residencies in art galleries where I create sound installations that have an opening performance followed by a recorded exhibit. I look forward to following the muse and the music and letting it tell me where to go!

All The World’s A Stage is the latest from Tom Teasley, a title that barely does true justice to his incredible range of percussion exploits…

Jazz and the blues--because together this musical brother and sister speak from our nation's days of the current cultural affairs and the authenticity and truth of a place where the rhythms held the pulse and the drums the heartbeat, representing every step closer the meat on the bone

Jazz and the blues--because together this musical brother and sister speak from our nation's days of the current cultural affairs and the authenticity and truth of a place where the rhythms held the pulse and the drums the heartbeat, representing every step closer the meat on the bone. Feet in the dirt, or barefoot on a stage with sequins--it's soul beats in my chest.
I was first exposed to jazz while others listened to surf music in the '50s and '60s, it was Monk, Miles, Satchmo and Ella, Rosemary Clooney and Julie London followed. Margaret Whiting, Les McCann, Willie Bobo, Andy Simpkins, Snooky Young, Bill Basie and Helen Humes. The first time I heard Topsy, Take 2, I about passed out at the age of ten.
I've hung with Les McCann who more than 30 years after our first meeting became my duet partner on my CD, Don't Go To Strangers. Karen Hernandez from the start, Jack Le Compte on drums, Lou Shoch on bass, Steve Rawlins as my arranger and pianist, Grant Geissman - guitar genius, Nolan Shaheed, Richard Simon, and more. The big boys. My Red Hot Papas. The best show I ever attended was...
I met Helen Humes first back in 1981 and helped turn one Playboy Jazz Festival night into her tribute, bring the Basie Band to stage, her joy boys. Before she took the stage for the last time to sing, If I could Be With You One Hour Tonight thousands of copies of the newspaper I wrote for carried her story. It was kismet, her being held by Joe Williams backstage. Soon in my life were the great Linda Hopkins who told me I sang the song she wrote better than her, which floored me of course, the energizing Barbara Morrison and the stellar Marilyn Maye who guided me professionally.
My advice to new listeners... let your backbone slip and feel your body stripping back the barriers that prevent us from being one with the music.
Remember none of us are strangers, we just haven't met yet.